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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Prison Inmate's Life Threatened with Unassisted Birth

Well, what I really wanted to write was actually a fish profile, but real stuff happens from time to time, and since writing about events seems to work in my style, I thought I'd keep doing what I was accustomed to doing.

The CBC reported recently that a woman being held awaiting trial at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre gave birth under some "less than ideal" circumstances. It seems that the woman went into labour in detention, and guards removed her to what's called a segregation cell, believing her labour to be counterfeit, or else false. As it happens, her son was breech-born, and he was born without assistance.

Now, holding aside that the woman was yet to be convicted and the rather obvious issue of the fitness of felons to be parents, we have a rather serious problem here. I know for a fact that there will be people out there who disagree with this assertion, but we have a moral duty to properly care for prison inmates. Canada's legal system does not legitimize a death penalty, nor cruel or unusual punishment. We're not Finland, but we do have fairly forward-thinking ideas about prisoner rights.

I'm shocked to learn that "prison hospitals for female detention centers should be used in the event of labour" isn't one of those ideas. A breech birth is not a little thing - it has real risks for the health of both the mother and the child.